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Italy flagMaurizio
Neutral nouns in Dutch Hi! Is there any trick to recognize if a noun is neutral in Dutch, so that one can get the article right? Thank you Maurizio

Answers · 3

1
Not really. However, if you use "tje" or "je" ending nouns you can't go wrong, they're always neutral. :-)
0
Hi Maurizio, Good question! Fortunately we do have some helpful ''rules'' to help you remember what articles to use when! Here they are: - All words that are made smaller with (e)(t)je are neuter (de vrouw – het vrouwtje, de man – het mannetje), - Practically all words that and on standard suffixes like -ing, -ij, -ie, -e and -heid are feminine (de vereniging, de bakkerij, de politie, de dame, de moeilijkheid), - All infinite verbs used as nouns are neuter (het eten, het fietsen), - Words starting with standard prefixes like ge-, ver, ont- and be- and not ending on -ing are neuter (het gevaar, het verhaal, het ontzag, het beslag), - Words ending on -el or -er are quite often de-words (de tafel, de beker), - Buildings, however, are often het-words (het theater, het huis, het station – just not de bioscoop, since that ends on -scoop, which is one of those standard suffixes), - In plural all words get de (de vrouwtjes, de boeken) and, naturally, all words referring to persons(individuals) are de-words (de minister, de bakker). Hope these are helpful for you.

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